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The Hindu-Yogi System of Practical Water Cure2136
the bowels, kidneys, breath and skin. There are myriads of sweat-glands in
the skin, the number being estimated at about three millions or over, the
combined length of which has been estimated at about five miles. The debris
of the system is carried from all parts of the body in the blood which returns
through the veins laden with impurities. A portion of this impurity is burned
up in the lungs and exhaled by the breath; another portion is carried off by
means of the kidneys; and a third portion is carried off through the skin, by
means of perspiration. When the kidneys are weakened, the skin is called
upon to do much of their work, in addition to its own. The water of which
the perspiration is composed, is filtered out of the blood in the veins by
the tiny sweat-glands, which then carry it to the surface of the skin where it
evaporates and is carried away. The perspiration is not noticed to any great
extent unless the weather is very warm, or unless we are exercising heartily,
in which case it gathers in drops on the skin, and we perceive it. Even then, if
the climate be a dry one, we do not notice it very much as the air takes it up
so rapidly; but where it is humid and the air absorbs it but slowly, we notice
it very much and find it depressing.
When analyzed by a chemist, the perspiration is found to be filled with
foul excrement, debris of the system, and waste products, very similar
indeed to that excreted as urine. This old matter is poisonous, and nature is
making every effort to expel it from the system. Where the Colon has been
allowed to become obstructed, the perspiration becomes very foul indeed,
as it is called upon to eliminate much excrement that should have passed
off through the bowels. One readily may see how very important it is to
keep the skin in good, clean condition, that it may do this part of its work
properly. Cases have been known where the skin of men have been covered
with a coat of varnish—in one case a coating of gold-leaf being applied to
gild a boy for a holiday spectacle—and in every case death ensued. Many
contagious diseases are contracted because the channels of excrement are
allowed to become clogged and obstructed, and the foul waste matter